Ranchi: The Jharkhand cabinet on Tuesday recommended the dissolution of the state assembly a day after Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) withdrew its support to the BJP-led government, said an official.

The cabinet meeting was attended by ministers from the BJP, All Jharkhand Students Union and Janata Dal-United. JMM ministers did not attend the meeting, said the official in the Chief Minister's office.

The cabinet's decision comes ahead of JMM presenting the letter of withdrawal of support to the governor.

The withdrawal of support on Monday has reduced the state government to a minority in the 82-member assembly.

The decision to withdraw support was taken by JMM chief Shibu Soren who was earlier authorised by the party to take a final call in this regard.

The two alliance partners – BJP and JMM – were at odds when the latter asked the former to vacate Chief Minister’s post and abide by an agreement for its rotation. BJP had declined to do so saying no such an agreement was struck at the time of inception of the coalition government in the state.

The party also sought apology from a BJP MP for allegedly passing indecent remarks about the JMM chief. "The decision when the support will be formally withdrawn will be taken by party chief Shibu Soren," he said.

Asked when his party would go to the governor's house to formally convey the withdrawal of support, he said, "We will inform (the reporters)."

The JMM executive committee met here earlier on Monday. Chief Minister Arjun Munda also met Shibu Soren for half-an-hour earlier on Monday to defuse the crisis over the issue of "rotation of power" between the coalition partners. Munda did not speak to media after the meeting.

Relations between the two had been strained ever since Munda in a written reply to the JMM on Jan 3 denied that there was an agreement between them on "rotation of power" after 28 months in office. The 28-month period ends Jan 10. The JMM has five ministers in the BJP-led cabinet, including Deputy Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

The BJP and JMM have 18 members each in the state assembly, where the majority mark is 42. The coalition government, which was formed in September 2010, also has the support of six All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) members and two Janata Dal-United (JD-U) members. The JMM has five ministers in the present cabinet.